I Kings 16
16
1Then the word of the Lord came to #1 Kin. 16:7; 2 Chr. 19:2; 20:34Jehu the son of #2 Chr. 16:7–10Hanani, against #1 Kin. 15:27Baasha, saying: 2#1 Sam. 2:8; 1 Kin. 14:7“Inasmuch as I lifted you out of the dust and made you ruler over My people Israel, and #1 Kin. 12:25–33; 15:34you have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made My people Israel sin, to provoke Me to anger with their sins, 3surely I will #1 Kin. 16:11; 21:21take away the posterity of Baasha and the posterity of his house, and I will make your house like #1 Kin. 14:10; 15:29the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 4The dogs shall eat #1 Kin. 14:11; 21:24whoever belongs to Baasha and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the fields.”
5Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, what he did, and his might, #2 Chr. 16:11are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 6So Baasha rested with his fathers and was buried in #1 Kin. 14:17; 15:21Tirzah. Then Elah his son reigned in his place.
7And also the word of the Lord came by the prophet #1 Kin. 16:1Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, because of all the evil that he did in the sight of the Lord in provoking Him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because #1 Kin. 15:27, 29he killed them.
Elah Reigns in Israel
8In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha became king over Israel, and reigned two years in Tirzah. 9#2 Kin. 9:30–33Now his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him as he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, #Gen. 24:2; 39:4; 1 Kin. 18:3steward of his house in Tirzah. 10And Zimri went in and struck him and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his place.
11Then it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he was seated on his throne, that he killed all the household of Baasha; he #1 Sam. 25:22did not leave him one male, neither of his relatives nor of his friends. 12Thus Zimri destroyed all the household of Baasha, #1 Kin. 16:3according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, 13for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son, by which they had sinned and by which they had made Israel sin, in provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger #Deut. 32:21; 1 Sam. 12:21; (Is. 41:29; Jon. 2:8; 1 Cor. 8:4; 10:19)with their idols.
14Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
Zimri Reigns in Israel
15In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri had reigned in Tirzah seven days. And the people were encamped #1 Kin. 15:27against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. 16Now the people who were encamped heard it said, “Zimri has conspired and also has killed the king.” So all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. 17Then Omri and all Israel with him went up from Gibbethon, and they besieged Tirzah. 18And it happened, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the citadel of the king’s house and burned the king’s house down upon himself with fire, and died, 19because of the sins which he had committed in doing evil in the sight of the Lord, #1 Kin. 15:26, 34in walking in the #1 Kin. 12:25–33way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he had committed to make Israel sin.
20Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and the treason he committed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
Omri Reigns in Israel
21Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri. 22But the people who followed Omri prevailed over the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri reigned. 23In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel, and reigned twelve years. Six years he reigned in #1 Kin. 15:21; 2 Kin. 15:14Tirzah. 24And he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; then he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, #1 Kin. 13:32; 2 Kin. 17:24; John 4:4Samaria, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill. 25#Mic. 6:16Omri did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all who were before him. 26For he #1 Kin. 16:19walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin, provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their #1 Kin. 16:13idols.
27Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and the might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
28So Omri rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. Then Ahab his son reigned in his place.
Ahab Reigns in Israel
29In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him. 31And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, #Deut. 7:3that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the #Judg. 18:7; 1 Kin. 11:1–5Sidonians; #1 Kin. 21:25, 26; 2 Kin. 10:18; 17:16and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. 32Then he set up an altar for Baal in #2 Kin. 10:21, 26, 27the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33#2 Kin. 13:6And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab #1 Kin. 14:9; 16:29, 30; 21:25did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. 34In his days Hiel of Bethel built Jericho. He laid its foundation with Abiram his firstborn, and with his youngest son Segub he set up its gates, #Josh. 6:26according to the word of the Lord, which He had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun.
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I Kings 16: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
1 Kings 16
16
1The Lord sent Jehu son of Hanani to say to Baasha:
2Nobody knew who you were until I, the Lord, chose you#16.2 Nobody … you: Hebrew “I pulled you up out of the dust.” to be the leader of my people Israel. And now you're acting exactly like Jeroboam by causing the Israelites to sin. What you've done has made me so angry 3that I will destroy you and your family, just as I did the family of Jeroboam. 4Dogs will eat the bodies of your relatives who die in town, and vultures will eat the bodies of those who die in the country.
5-7Baasha made the Lord very angry, and that's why the Lord gave Jehu this message for Baasha and his family. Baasha constantly disobeyed the Lord by following Jeroboam's sinful example—but even worse, he killed everyone in Jeroboam's family!
Everything else Baasha did while he was king, including his brave deeds, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel. Baasha died and was buried in Tirzah, and his son Elah became king.
King Elah of Israel
8Elah son of Baasha became king of Israel after Asa had been king of Judah for 25 years, and he ruled from Tirzah for two years.
9Zimri commanded half of Elah's chariots, and he made plans to kill Elah.
One day, Elah was in Tirzah, getting drunk at the home of Arza, his prime minister, 10when Zimri went there and killed Elah. So Zimri became king in the twenty-seventh year of Asa's rule in Judah.
11As soon as Zimri became king, he killed everyone in Baasha's family. Not one man or boy in his family was left alive—even his close friends were killed. 12Baasha's family was completely wiped out, just as the Lord's prophet Jehu had warned. 13Baasha and Elah sinned and caused the Israelites to sin, and they made the Lord angry by worshiping idols.
14Everything else Elah did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Israel.
King Zimri of Israel
15-16Zimri became king of Israel in Asa's twenty-seventh year as king of Judah, but he ruled only seven days from Tirzah.
Israel's army was camped near Gibbethon in Philistia under the command of Omri. The soldiers heard that Zimri had killed Elah, and they made Omri their king that same day. 17At once, Omri and his army marched to Tirzah and attacked. 18When Zimri saw that the town was captured, he ran into the strongest part of the palace and killed himself by setting it on fire. 19Zimri had disobeyed the Lord by following the evil example of Jeroboam, who had caused the Israelites to sin.
20Everything else Zimri did while he was king, including his rebellion against Elah, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel.
King Omri of Israel
21After Zimri died, some of the Israelites wanted Tibni son of Ginath to be king, but others wanted Omri. 22Omri's followers were stronger than Tibni's, so Tibni was killed, and Omri became king of Israel 23in the thirty-first year of Asa's rule in Judah.
Omri ruled Israel for twelve years. The first six years he ruled from Tirzah, 24then he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for 6,000 pieces of silver. He built a town there and named it Samaria, after Shemer who had owned the hill.
25Omri did more evil things than any king before him. 26He acted just like Jeroboam and made the Lord God of Israel angry by causing the Israelites to sin and to worship idols.
27Everything else Omri did while he was king, including his brave deeds, is written in The History of the Kings of Israel. 28Omri died and was buried in Samaria, and his son Ahab became king.
King Ahab of Israel
29Ahab son of Omri became king of Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa's rule in Judah, and he ruled 22 years from Samaria.
30Ahab did more things to disobey the Lord than any king before him. 31He acted just like Jeroboam. Even worse, he married Jezebel the daughter of King Ethbaal of Sidon#16.31 Sidon: One of the most important cities in Phoenicia. It was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of Israel, in what is today southern Lebanon. and started worshiping Baal. 32Ahab built an altar and temple for Baal in Samaria 33and set up a sacred pole#16.33 sacred pole: See the note at 14.15. for worshiping the goddess Asherah. Ahab did more to make the Lord God of Israel angry than any king of Israel before him.
34 #
Js 6.26. While Ahab was king, a man from Bethel named Hiel rebuilt the town of Jericho. But while Hiel was laying the foundation for the town wall, his oldest son Abiram died. And while he was finishing the gates, his youngest son Segub died. This happened just as the Lord had told Joshua to say many years ago.#16.34 a man from Bethel … ago: See Joshua 6.26.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.